The Blog and Musings of Gnarfgnarf The Travel Mouse

The Grand Staircase of the Paris Opera with a baby carrier

Posted by P & C on 4 November 2011

Our baby boy loves opera and ballet. Is it the singing or the music or a bit of both? While he's still too young to enjoy a full performance of Carmen or the Swan Lake, we thought we'd try touring the Opéra de Paris on a Tuesday. Well, Mondays and Tuesdays are probably best avoided if you want to visit the opera. The reason is simple: most museums in Paris are closed on either of these days, leaving the opera one of the few major landmarks open for sightseeing. More accurately the Palais Garnier or Garnier Palace, as the more modern Bastille Opera is also part of the Paris Opera.. but when Parisians tell you to meet them place de l'Opéra, they mean Opera Garnier. You really need a baby carrier for your ten kilo already but can't walk yet little one for this exciting tour. There are just too many stairs, nooks and secret alcoves for prams. We left ours with one of the friendly ladies who clips the tickets. Folded or unfolded, as you wish, your dune buggy, baby tank or umbrella stroller is in good hands. There are quite a few stairs to climb and you'll go around and retrace your steps back to the previous halls a few times. The Grand Staircase and the Grand Foyer, pictured below, are broad and smooth enough so you and your precious ones won't feel squeezed by the crowd. By and large, it was an easy ascent and a careful descent and well worth the golden splendours of the Paris Opera. A short virtual tour is available online on the Paris Opera website for those who really want to plan their family outing ahead.

Entrance: about 10 euros, from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm, every day.

Things to do in Singapore in November 2011

Posted by Tony on 2 November 2011

3 & 14 November, 7.00 pm - Immigrant at the Substation, art and social activism.

4 & 5 November, 8.00 pm - Decimal Points: 0.01 at the Substation, dance performance.

Until 12 November - Seeing the Kites Again by Wu Guanzhong at the Singapore Art Museum.

Until 25 December - The Burning Gaze by Hyung Koo Kang at the Singapore Art Museum.

Until 5 February 2012 - Dreams and Reality, Masterpieces of Painting, Drawing and Photography from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Until 26 February 2012 - Sarong Kebaya, Peranakan fashion and batik masterpieces, Peranakan Museum.

A selection of films at Phnom Penh's Bophana Centre in November 2011

Posted by Bonna on 4 November 2011

5 November, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "Official Visit of General de Gaulle to Cambodia", documentary directed by King Father Norodom Sihanouk, 27 minutes, 1966, Khmer version.

12 November, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "Water Festival 1910, 1929 and 1954", documentary, 10 minutes, silent; "The Independence of Cambodia", documentary directed by Am Rong, 40 minutes, 1954, Khmer version.

19 November, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "Khmer after Angkor", fiction directed by Ly Bun Yim, 120 minutes, 1971, Khmer version.

26 November, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "Sovannahong", fiction directed by Yvon Hem, 108 minutes, 1967, Khmer version.